Business, general

Tale of tape backup: slow and lightweight

Article Abstract:

Tape and tape drives are difficult to use and provide unreliable backups and storage, which makes them less desirable that more expensive data storage options such as removable hard drives, magneto-optical disks and CD-ROMs. One of the chief benefits of using tape is its low cost, although this does not take into account the time spent and the data lost with tape. Tape's other great advantage is that it can store large amounts of data, with a single cartridge holding gigabytes of information on 750 feet of 8mm tape. Tape drives often advertise greater capacity than they demonstrate, claiming that compression techniques allow them to reduce data to about half its orignal size, a goal that is rarely achieved. Tape drives require users to clean them, and they are extremely slow. If users wish to verify that all data has been backed up, they must spend additional time checking the tape. Once the data is on the tape, it can be difficult to retrieve specific files, and cartridges sometime last less than 10 years.

Author: Manes, Stephen

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1996

A game joystick that pushes back

Article Abstract:

CH Products' $180 Force FX joystick is a force feedback product that allows users to feel simulated molecular forces when playing a computer game. The Force FX joystick construction is similar in design to other complex joysticks. It is mounted on a broad base and is equipped with two four-way 'hat' switches and six buttons. Two built-in motors are powered and controlled by serial port and AC outlet connections, which operate with the regular game port connection. The DOS-based setup software for the Force FX joystick is poorly designed and the instruction manual lacks information. The joystick's hardware works fine but the software has calibration problems, which makes manually adjusting the trim tabs necessary in order to decrease drifting or other inappropriate movements.

Author: Manes, Stephen

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1997

What price DVD bragging rights

Article Abstract:

Digital Video Disks (DVD) have been released in a number of major cities and are priced at about $20 each. DVD players are also available with prices starting around $500 and they will play music CDs as well as DVDs. The DVD players attach to a television set and provide outstanding picture quality. DVD systems only playback and are not yet capable of recording. Unlike music CDs, which will play on any CD player in the world, DVD has six different types of players. The computer industry has created DVD-ROM players that will play basically every CD formate, audio, video and DVD-ROM. DVD-ROM players however, cannot handel Photo CDs or CD-R. Once computers have DVD-ROM players built-in to them, the decoder and video circuitry integration should improve.

Author: Manes, Stephen

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1997